Little Marauders (and company)
by poktadotpups
Summary: One-shot of marauders era as babies (well not baby babies, but you get the idea). Not updated weekly, but still as adorable as actual baby marauders are.


Sirens, muggle coats, lies, and impossible blues

- _Sirius spends his first summer with James and has a slight fear of the ocean_-

Sirius doesn't like the ocean. It is large and unpredictable and impossibly dark, not to mention cold; and if Sirius is being quite honest with himself he doesn't particularly like getting wet. Showers and bathes are one thing, even dips in a lake or pool feel good on hot days, but submerging himself deep in the dark churning water on a windy day in June was not something Sirius Black was looking forward to. If only he could find the courage to express his fears to his completely oblivious mate who was currently spinning in circles rattling off the names of every decorated goblin rebel, alphabetically, of the Goblin Rebellions. A dare, and a stupid one at that. Sirius himself had come up with, half out of pure curiosity to see if James would do it, and the other half a desperate need to prolong their inevitable ocean encounter. He hadn't be disappointed when, with a broad grin, James turned automatically on his heels. He stopped now, veering left and right and laughing hysterically as he tripped over his own feet and fell on his side into the sand. Sirius laughed too, his nervousness melting a little as he bent down next to his black haired friend, brushing the sand from his shoulder.

"You're an idiot, you know that right?" James grinned up at him, as Sirius took a seat on a near by rock, frowning at the cold grey sand that stretched out around them (that was another thing about the ocean: sand). James shook his head and threw his limbs back, pressing his hands over his hazel eyes in an attempt to stop the world from spinning.

"I may be an idiot, but I'm an idiot who can recite rebels from memory. I could be the next Dumbledore, honestly." Sirius rolled his eyes.

"More like the next Filch."

"Rude!" James said, sitting up suddenly and looked at his best friend brightly, "You ready?" he asked, not waiting for Sirius's answer as he pulled his shirt and jumper off and stood, walking purposely towards the shoreline. Sirius remained seated.

"Remind me again why we are doing this?"

"To see if it's true!" James called back, he was wading into the surf now, dark blue ocean and bright white foam curling around his calves. Sirius turned towards him and stood. Frowning again and stuffing his hands deep into the pockets of the muggle coat Mrs. Potter had forced him into on their way out the door. _A present from the muggles down the road_, she'd said smiling at him, _for Christmas, knit it themselves_. The pockets were deeper than the ones on his favorite robes, and it had kept him warm as James had dragged him through the dewy forest and out towards the sea. His mother would have a heart attack just thinking about him wearing something like this. Shaking thoughts of his family away, Sirius looked up focusing on James again. This time he was further into the water, up to his stomach. He was hopping around a bit, trying to get used the temperature, as the water wrapped around him, just above his navel.

"And what if there aren't sirens?"

"Than I'll know Marlene Mckinnon is a dirty liar."

"And we can't just, I don't know, call out to them?"

"So they can lure us to our deaths with their voices? No thanks." _At least I wouldn't have to go home_, thought Sirius. _Or get in_. He shifted his weight from foot to foot and walked forward a bit, now the water ran just over his toes.

"I still don't see how we won't die upon finding them."

"Marlene said that they are more friendly than people think. Plus I've been reading a bit about them. You know that muggles believe they were turned into half bird, after a god was kidnapped by another god, so the mother god sent them to look for her. Which has little to do with their actual origins, but I'd love to know if they actually have bird bodies."

"Why did the one god kidnap the other."

"Don't remember."

"Why didn't the mother just look for her or ask around? And why turn them into half birds? Why not another animal or change them completely?"

"Are you getting in or not Black?" Sirius looked up from his toes to find James staring directly at him. His body was gone, underneath the forever turning liquid, only his head was visible some yards off from Sirius; dark hair like ink against his skin and his glasses turned sideways. He adjusted them as he called out again to Sirius. "Come on, the longer we wait the less daylight we have." That spoke to Sirius. He pulled off the rest of his clothes (including the beloved muggle coat which he folded neatly on top of his other clothes much to James's annoyance) and turned towards the waves. He swallowed the bubbling fear that was gripping him, for Merlin sakes he was in Gryffindor he could handle a little water, and took on the best tactic he knew for dealing with problems: ignore they exist and plunge headfirst. This was not the best course of action. In the Black family home, 12 Grimmauld place in London, there are three studies. One for Sirius's father (a space to be avoided at all cost), one for Sirius's mother (mostly tapestry and disappointment, also to be avoided) and a small study just off the dining room on the left side of the hallway. It is in this study on the third bookcase from the right, fourth shelf down sits the only picture that Sirius knows in which his parent are both smiling. His mother is in the forefront, her arm around her youngest brother, Cygnus, and her other arm is shoulder to shoulder with her cousin Adhara, who is also smiling or what passes for it. In the background, to the left and diagonal to Sirius's grandmother Irma, who looks on at her children, is Sirius's father: smiling. Regulus swore one time he saw him grin up at him when he glanced at the photo. Sirius on the other hand has only seen blank stares or curt nods (even in pictures there's detachment). The photo is significant however, because no matter how long Sirius looks at it, watching the faces change and move, the dark blue sky behind them, an impossible color to achieve with the way the photo is lit, never changes. It's an altered photo, some spell that keeps the figures inside from looking directly at the person holding it, keeps the people inside from moving too much, and keeps the sky from moving at all. That's what the ocean feels like: like dark unsettling blue sky. It dims the ends of the world, just like in the photo and it keeps you from moving. There is no up or down in the ocean, and there's no color other than that suffocating blue, there is nothing, and it's terrifying. Sirius doesn't realize that it's James that pulls him to the surface until James bites his hand as Sirius holds him under in an attempt to be above the water completely. When they finally struggle to the shore (which they actually weren't very far from at all) neither boy can speak as they lay in the cold sand gasping for breath. It's a while before either has the energy to even roll over and when they finally do it is evident to both boys that whatever has transpired between them would take more energy to address than it may be possible for two, almost-drowned-and-killed-my-best-mate-in-the-process, twelve year old boys. So James does the best he can.

"Mckinnon is a dirty liar." James says, forcing Sirius into the muggle coat and sitting down next to him. The boys take their time staring out at the vast expanse of sea that lies before them. Once the sun starts to dip below the horizon, painting the sky a soft light pink, they head back for dinner. James, receipting the names of the decorated goblin rebels of the Goblin Rebellion, backwards and in numerical order by date; Sirius, hands stuffed deep in the pockets of a knit muggle coat.


End file.
